MOSCOW, March 12 (RIA Novosti) - Lawyers for the
Iraqi journalist who threw his shoes at then-U.S. President
George Bush in December said on Thursday they intend to appeal
the three-year prison sentence of their client.
Muntazer al-Zaidi, 30, an Iraqi correspondent for the
Cairo-based al-Baghdadiya TV channel, threw his shoes at Bush
during a news conference in Baghdad in mid-December and shouted
in Arabic: "This is a farewell kiss from the Iraqi people,
dog." Bush managed to duck out of the way as each shoe flew
past.
Earlier in the day the Central Criminal Court of Iraq
sentenced Muntazer al-Zaidi to three years in prison,
describing his actions as an assault on a leader of a foreign
country during an official visit.
His lawyer said in an interview with the Qatar-based news
channel Al-Jazeera that the verdict was "very harsh."
"The verdict is unjust. First, President Bush did not
press charges; second, the journalist's action was not an
assault, but only an insult," he said.
The journalist's actions have made him a hero in many Arab
countries, including Iraq, where a 3.5-meter (11' 6") sculpture
of a shoe was unveiled at an orphanage in the north of the
country. However, the tribute to al-Zaidi was taken down after
only a day following an order from the Iraqi government.
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